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American Morning

Interview of Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota

Aired January 08, 2002 - 09:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And, of course, it's not hard to forget who Jesse Ventura is. The man once known as "the Body" has always possessed a flare for the dramatic, and sometimes bombastic. Ever since the former Navy SeAL left the wrestling ring to join the political arena, Jesse the Governor has kept a very high profile.

The war on terror, and his own battle with the lords of baseball are among some things we're going to try to talk to him about this morning. And Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura joins us now from St. Paul.

Happy New Year, Governor. This is first chance I have had to address you in this year 2002. How are you?

JESSE VENTURA, GOVERNOR, MINNESOTA: I'm doing well, Paula. Happy New Year to you.

ZAHN: Thank you, appreciate it very much. For starters, I wanted to get your reaction to a piece in the "Economist" which suggests that the U.S. blew it in trying to track down Osama bin Laden, because they gave too many of the responsibilities over to Afghan warlords. What do you think?

VENTURA: Well again, I'm not privy to the information that they have. I don't sit on the national security council or anything like that, so I would hate to second-guess. I think that you needed the Afghan support, because obviously when the Soviet Union went into Afghanistan, they didn't have Afghan support, and they failed miserably.

You have to have the support of the people on the ground, the people living in the country, I think in which to be successful in there in today's day and age, so I think they're quick to jump on the bandwagon that just because, you know, we haven't been successful in locating bin Laden, doesn't mean we haven't been very successful in busting up the al Qaeda to where they will never again operate, hopefully, in Afghanistan.

ZAHN: I know that a lot of people might remember that you were a Navy SeAL during Vietnam. Do you have any special reflections today on the use of our Special Forces in Afghanistan and, you know obviously, we aren't being telegraphed exactly what they are doing, but just some thoughts on that for us this morning. VENTURA: Well, you know, I go out to my SeAL team reunions every August in Coronado, California, and believe me they are highly trained, they are motivated, they are ready to get the job done.

And this is a job that is made for them, that is what they are trained to do like all Special Forces warriors, you practice, you practice, you practice, and hopefully you never get into the game, but this is a case where the actual game began, and they are doing what they are trained to do. They are doing what they want to do.

You don't go into Special Forces and not be a volunteer. You know, you volunteer for that type of duty. You are not drafted into it. You are not made to do it when you join the service. You are a volunteer, and so they are doing the job that they volunteered for and want to do.

ZAHN: Want to bring you back to some domestic issues now, and want you to comment. We obviously know that the U.S. economy is in a bit of a stall, although the president indicated to us he believes that the worst of recession is over, but you in Minnesota are struggling with same kind of issue, and as I understand it, you have a several billion dollar budget short-fall. What do you plan to do about that?

VENTURA: Well, I plan on first and foremost cutting government. You know, it's interesting to note that in the last decade, government in Minnesota has doubled. Our budget to back in 1990, 1991 was biannually about $13.6 billion.

Now, 10 years later, it is $28 billion. And to me, that is growing quite a a bit above and beyond inflation, I think government has gotten far too big, and far too large, so I will look at doing -- cutting government in all departments. I told my commissioners be prepared to cut 10 percent out of your budget, and then -- but that is not going to get the job done fully, so certainly we will look at, you know, as a last resort, raising taxes in a few areas, but I'm hoping not to raise taxes.

We have spent three years in my administration cutting taxes, and getting us out of the top 10. I don't want to go back into the top 10 again so I'll cut government first.

ZAHN: Governor, I know I talked to you when your ratings have been sky-high. I guess they are not so high right now, why do you think is?

VENTURA: They're fine. Ratings are like the weather. They come and change with the breeze. You know, if I worried about ratings, I wouldn't even be sitting in this chair, because there was no poll that predicted I would win the election. So, polling and ratings and all that are just media things to use and hype, to create stories with.

My polling numbers are fine, I'm still well over 50 percent, which any politician would jump for joy to be that high. My problem is, I was probably unfairly too high. At some points, I was up to 73 percent, and everyone knows when you have to make critical, hard decisions, you know, in this job, no matter what decision you make, someone won't like it.

And so therefore, as you make critical decisions, you are going to alienate more people, but I don't worry about polling. I come in, I get the job done. As we used to say as Frogmen, you don't have to like it, you just got to do it.

ZAHN: Well, we wish you continued good luck as you try to do it, particularly at this turbulent time in the budget wars in your home state, happy New Year to you and you family. Thank you again for joining us this morning.

VENTURA: Well, thank you, Paula. Look forward to talking to you again. Have a good New Year.

ZAHN: Appreciate it, Governor.

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